Ray Muzyka Interview

The Guardian recently chatted up BioWare’s Ray Muzyka about their Mass Effect sequel, Dragon Age: Origins, their acquisition by Electronic Arts, the future of the RPG genre, and more.

How did the buyout by Electronic Arts (EA bought Bioware in 2008) influence the development of Mass Effect 2? Did this lead to a greater emphasis on combat?

We would have made the combat more intense anyway. We got some feedback from EA that did help us. John Riccitiello (EA Head) was also my boss at Elevation Partners and he gave some great feedback about the original Mass Effect way back in 2006. We didn’t put it all in Mass Effect 1 but we integrated it with the feedback from players and press and created a prioritised list for Mass Effect 2. It is all about mass market accessibility while maintaining the depth that our core fanbase love. Everyone appreciates quality and fun after all. Mass Effect 2 can be played as deep as you like. You can dive into the backstory with the codex and really get into the whole universe or you can just have fun with the story and the shooting.

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What differences are there between the audiences of Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2?

It’s a little early to tell. I suspect Dragon Age will appeal to the more core RPG fan. But Dragon Age also had an emotionally engaging narrative which will appeal to a wider audience too. Mass Effect 2’s gameplay is a little more orientated around the shooter action so will appeal to a slightly different audience. We wanted to make sure that all the games my team are working on can appeal to different audiences. I like the idea of having a game like Dragon Age that is the spiritual successor to Baldur’s Gate. It has obviously been bought into the next generation with graphics and emotional fidelity but this is a game that really appeals to our core fan base. Mass Effect has a different audience to both Dragon Age and Star Wars Republic as well our other stuff which we haven’t announced yet. We have a diverse portfolio of RPGs.